Warning(s): Strong Language

Too many. Girl could see too many of the stripe man's teeth, because he was smiling so big. But he wasn't smiling at Girl. He was smiling at Uncle Roy.

Girl sat on the floor next to Roy. And then Kurt on the other side of Roy. But in a chair. She didn't like chairs. They always smelled like poop and sweat because of all the butts they touched. The floor smelled like outside.

She was okay with the smell of outside.

Stripe man laughed a little laugh. "Gah, I'm just so excited to see you, Mr. Roy! I'm personally such a big fan!"

Roy had on the madder than mad face, but didn't speak with the madder than mad voice. It was the quiet voice. "Save the honey dicking for your girls, Benette. The fuck do you want with Girl."

"Mmf! So straightforward and professional. Like a real man." Stripe man showed one finger, then pointed at Girl. "Can't get to the fun until she's out of the room. I know how you work~."

Roy's face got madder. Kurt's face didn't do anything.

"And why the fuck should I send her anywhere?" Roy's hand was on Girl's head. He squeezed a little. "A guard dog stays next to their master at all times. Don't try any fuck shit and we won't have a problem."

"Roy," Kurt said in a little voice. He wanted only Roy to hear him, but Girl heard too. She heard lots of things that people didn't want others to hear. She just never knew what to do about knowing those things. "Don't stir the fucking pot. Just go with it--"

"You don't get to talk," Roy growled. He looked at Stripe Man again, the biggest mad of mad in his eyes and lips. "Girl. Stays."

That was Roy's scariness and it always worked in talks like this. When he talked to other people in clothes that looked a lot like his. In pretty little rooms like this with all the chairs and brown smoke sticks. Roy always got his way.

But Stripe Man was different. He didn't look scared. All Girl could see were too many of his teeth and too much of his smile. He moved up and down really fast in his chair, then stopped moving even quicker. He clapped. "Well, you see, I have a wee bit of a problem with stage fright and I'd just feel horrible talking about Girl like a piece of property right in front of her. So inhumane!"

Stripe Man was gonna talk more, but then the door opened.

It was the screaming lady. She didn't have blood on her now, but her eye was still blue. That eye moved slower than her other eye when she looked at Roy, Kurt, Girl, Stripe Man, then back to Girl. Girl didn't think the others knew that her eye moved slow. Only she did. Girl was good at seeing things that other people didn't.

Screaming Lady closed the door and came in. There were no chairs for her to sit in, so Girl thought she would sit on the floor too. She didn't. Screaming Lady moved over to Stripe Man, who pushed back to show his legs. She sat down on his legs.

Slow, like her one eye.

"Just in time, Leela! Will you be a doll and take Girl here to the other room? The clean one."

Roy moved really fast, but he didn't go anywhere. It looked like he was going to go towards Stripe Man, but Kurt had grabbed his arm. "You sonuva--"

"Roy! Keep calm for five goddamn seconds," Kurt said, still grabbing Roy. There was a lot of madness on both of their faces, but Girl knew that Roy's was bigger.

He pushed off Kurt's hand and made the unimportant sounds again. "I swear to God if you try anything--"

"Oh, pish posh! She'll be perfectly safe. Scout's honor," Stripe Man said. He put one hand on his chest, but the other stayed on Leela's side. That finger from before pointed at the door. "Five minutes is all we need. Leela? Take Girl and keep her company while the grown ups talk, mmkay?"

Leela's eyes went in a cir... the round shape. They moved like that. "I'm twenty, Ben. Don't give me that shit right now." But she still obeyed. Girl knew what obey looked like. Leela stood up and put her hand out to Girl. Her voice was quiet and softer. "Come on, sweety."

Girl didn't touch the hand, but stared at it. She was confused, so she looked to Roy. His eyes went in a round shape too, but his mouth did a tiny movement too and made a clicking sound. "Go, Girl. With her." He pointed at Leela. "Follow."

Oh--Girl knew how to follow.

Not touching the hand, she stood next to Leela, PomPom in her arms, and followed the screaming lady out of the pretty room.

}:{

"Take a load off here." Leela gestured to a low rise futon pressed against the wall, though she herself stood in the center of the room. The area was simple in design but, true to Benette's word, its cleanliness rang true. Floor tiles gleamed a comforting baby blue matching the lights overhead, though it lacked the harshness of neon violet flooding the halls. A leather couch rested adjacent to the futon, forming an L shape, while two more loveseats manned the remaining corners. Two coffee tables wrapped up the image, one dedicated to the couches and the other to the loveseats.

Like before, confusion flooded Girl's being and remained upright. She stared blankly at Leela, to the couch, and back at the prostitute. Cautiously, she raised PomPom with both hands and presented the stuffed animal like a peace offering.

"W... want?"

Leela's heart clenched in on itself, though she only allowed herself to flash a lopsided grin. Filtering negativity from her features came as second now, mainly due to Benette's distaste for it. "All of my girls are happy girls," he always said. Never failed to twist Leela's guts into knots.

The woman shook her head. "I'm too old for toys, sweety. Here, just..."

Gently, she guided Girl by the shoulders until she plopped onto the cushion, then seated herself beside her. Leela immediately started picking at her nail polish while analysing Girl, a persistent tick.

"How old are you anyhow? You look like you're fifteen or something." If the organ in her chest had clenched beforehand, the possibility of this child being so young downright shattered it. And yet, her indifferent facade survived through it all.

Girl bounced PomPom on her lap, so entranced by its floppy dance that she barely registered the question. A beat later, all movement stopped, and she swan dived into Leela's eyes with a disturbing blankness behind her own. Empty, but carrying a glimmer of childlike curiosity.

She raised a finger.

Leela's brow pinched. "What? One?"

Girl nodded. Just as Leela was about to question further, her mouth snapped shut and she watched the young girl fuss with her hands. Fingers curled and uncurled, muttering that failed to carry a single hint of human language swam under Girl's breath, and her eyes narrowed into thin slits of concentration.

At long last, she held up eight fingers. Squinted. Grumbled in frustration. Then switched to seven fingers.

One. Seven.

It was delayed, but the realization clicked quickly enough for Leela. "You're seventeen?"

Like a broken record, Girl nodded again before shifting positions. She turned to face Leela completely and rested her legs on the futon like a dog begging for a treat. A bit more shin entered her gaze.

Girl loved it when she did something right.

Leela could've sworn she was going to drown in a mixture of dread, amusement, and the delight quietly radiating from Girl. "This... This is so fucked up," she whispered shakily, "Honey, you don't belong here. You should be like... hell, I don't know. In school! Hitting the books, making something of yourself." She reached forth to trace a thumb along Girl's collar. "Instead they've got you tied up like a goddamn chihuahua. Fuck."

Unfortunately, Girl couldn't keep up with her ramblings to save her life. She had given up trying to comprehend them long before Leela finished talking, opting instead to continue playing with PomPom.

However, her attention span had always been a fickle creature.

She looked up again, silently appraising Leela with that same burning curiosity, then leaned in to encircle her fingers around a braid. The woman's hair was woven tightly, yet the fluffy texture of it graced Girl's skin. Only now had she noticed the rows of charcoal tresses falling past Leela's shoulders like ropes of ebony.

"You having fun there?" Leela chuckled, but she showed no signs of moving away.

Girl didn't spare her any glances. Several braids were now ensnared between her hands. Unleashing a series of unintelligible grumbles and coos, she waved the locks up and down like a wave, slapping Leela's cheeks in the process.

"F... F is forrrr..." Girl's face pinched so hard that her eyes closed with it, only for them to snap open a beat after. "Fun. F is for f-fu, fun."

"And fuck."

A third voice came from the door.

Limber but short, and as pale as a ghost, a young woman stood at the entrance while leaning against the frame. The soft roundness of her face gave away just how young she was, perhaps around Girl's age, but the circles under her eyes and heavy makeup could've fooled most others. She ignored Leela's eye roll and sauntered in, plopping into the elder woman's lap. "This the newbie everyone's been talking about?" she asked, looking pointedly at Girl.

"Like hell she's gonna stay here!" Leela reeled back the moment that venom popped from her mouth. She sighed, guilt washing over her. "Just... I mean, yeah, Benette meant her, but," Right on time, Girl fell back into playing with Leela's braids, not very much interested in the conversation, "She's a whole ass baby. She can't be here."

"Wow." The girl flopped back, ramming herself into Leela's chest a bit more aggressively than the woman would've liked, and raised a thin journal to the lights. It was red linoleum and had Lala's Scrapbook scrawled across the front in all caps. "Hell of a sob story, Lala. Think I shed a few tears there."

Leela frowned. "There a reason why you got my book?"

"Bored. Felt like going through your shit. The usual."

"Okay. First of all," She snatched her folder free of grabby pale hands, "Humble yourself, Jess. Second, it's hard enough as it is to get some goddamn privacy around here. Don't ruin it for me."

"Ruin things for you? Little miss Benette's favorite?" Jess scoffed and rolled out of Leela's lap, granting Girl sufficient room to keep toying with her hair. "Trust me, kinda impossible to do when your pussy game even has the boss under you. Heh, literally."

Disgust twisted the base of Leela's gut. Her voice softened, whether it was with hurt or disappointment, Jess didn't bother trying to figure that out. "It ain't like that and you know it..."

"Right, right. I'll never understand. Your go to excuse for everything. Cool." Without waiting for a response, Jess switched her attention over to Girl, scanning the dirty female up and down. Once. Twice. Her nose scrunched up. "So like... did someone drop her as a baby or something? The hell does boss want with a retard?"

"Jess!" Leela hissed while covering Girl's ears. There was a surprising lack of reaction from Girl herself; at most, she pouted at the interruption of her little game and went back to bouncing PomPom up and down.

"Makes sense to ask. Don't act like you aren't wondering the same thing," Jess shot back, not a single ounce of her demeanor regretting anything she'd said. She folded one fishnet leg over the other. A moment after, epiphany gleamed in her eyes, then it quickly morphed into contempt. "Oh... let me guess. Big doe brown eyes, same age as you know who."

"Jess... Leave. It."

"Can't pretend to be a hero forever. She's not your sister and she sure as hell can't be saved from this."

Leela's jaw clenched. "I can sure as hell try--"

"Cute. Sure would've been nice if you tried that hard for me."

Silence.

Whatever breed of fight was coursing through Leela's veins, it died on the spot. She shrunk away and avoided Jess's accusing glare, all while gulping back an acrid shame crawling up the back of her throat. "That... That's not fair. We talked about this," she said.

"Mm, you see? No. We don't talk about it, cuz you like to run from the real shit." Jess stood and pulled back her long curtain of obsidian locks into a ponytail. "But whatever helps you sleep and fuck at night--"

Gunshots from next door.

A blood-curdling scream pierced the walls.